Eyestrain

For those that are riding the Tour de Tucson this year and use a GPS unit, I've plugged the course into my computer. The route, in .gpx format, can be downloaded here: https://home.comcast.net/~krzystek/ElTour.gpx.

This will be my first year running this race, and I'm doing the full 109 mile distance. I would appreciate insight from the veterans, specifically with respect to concerns such as how much of my own food and water I should bring, clothes to wear, etc.

VanceMac

I would also like opinions on those topics. In addition, I am not an early riser... so I will definitely be in back of the pack for that massive start. Does that mean I won't cross the start line for 10 minutes, or more like 45 minutes?

azwhelan

It depends on what your goals are in respect to your questions. If your goal is just to finish there is plenty of food along the way so unless you are really particular about what you eat just limit yourself to a few snacks/gu/cliff bars to eat while on the bike. There is always plenty of water and some places have gatorade but if you really like sports drinks you might want to bring some thing to add to the water.

It's cold at the start of this ride and people start lining up at a ridiculous times to make it into the fast groups. So if your goal is to make platinum plan on lining up early like 5am. I got there an hour before the start last year and the gold section was already full and I was just about in the middle of the silver section.

For those that don't know they try to divide the start into different sections depending on what your goal is. Platinum is the top group and you actually have to earn the right to line up in that section by finishing previous rides with a certain amount of time. Then comes gold, silver and bronze and you just put yourself in the proper section based on your abilities. Problem is people always put them selves in the gold section if they show up early enough regardless of their fitness level. This is the down side to showing up later, you potentially have to get by all of these people who are just lolly gagging along and the bike handling and etiquette isn't that great. The 1st river crossing can bottle neck pretty bad as well the farther back you are. So like I said it depends on your goals on how early you show up.

Like I said it will be cold and you see people in garbage bags trying to stay warm or even a better idea is go buy a cheap pair of sweats and just leave them at the start. They all get collected and donated after the start unless you want to try dig through the piles and recover them.

There are 8000 cyclist at this event and it is cool to expierence but they use timer chips and it goes to peoples heads a little bit and they think they are in the TdF or something. It's not a race except for the lead group really, they don't get points but it's prestigous for a local rider to win it. A lot of the racing set avoids it because you get those guys who come out and try to hang with the big boys with little expierence in a fast group and you always see the carnage. Everyones chips start at the same time and it can take 20-30 min just to cross the starting line and occasionally you'll be stopped by traffic. So once again don't take it to seriously unless your goal is to make platinum. It's a lot of fun to see the community come out and cheer and the route is pretty good, except for the 2 river crossings. If you have anymore questions I'll do my best to answer them.

VanceMac

It baffles me why events like that don't just plan for 2 other starting points, and have all 3 join up after, say, a mile or two.

brianallan

I live 2 blocks away from the start and got there 15 till last year. I think I was in the copper section, or whatever the last one is. I was super pissed and knew I wouldn't be going under 5 hours based solely on placement! I don't know what your goals are, but doing well in the el tour is all about getting with a fast group. I'd get as far up as you can, and drop back as you see fit.

It's a very dangerous race. There are a lot of novice cyclists that aren't used to group riding - bad wrecks every year. I road over a guy going 25 last year and someone managed not to fall. The 15 people behind me were not so lucky.

Clothing: it is typically quite cold in the begining, so I recommend gloves, arm warmers, knee warmers, wool socks and maybe booties. You can take the off the arm warmers and gloves, maybe some other stuff if you're skilled at on the bike clothing removel.

Food: It depends on how hard you're riding, and for how long. Lets say it takes you 6 hours. For 6 hours I'd say 5 goos, 3-4 energy bars. There is food a long the way, and you're going to need to get an extra bottle or two. Bring two bottles and try to fill up at the wash crossings - and as you see fit.

Wash Crossings: Yee-yaw! These are fun, and unless you're a pretty good rider, you might have trouble riding through sand, around people, on your road bike. If you don't feel comfortable, walk these.

Pace Yourself! It's pretty long, so if you can, take the first half easier then the second. I think the worst part is after crossing I-10, down silverbell. That's when I bonked last year, specefically 3 miles from the finish. Even if you're not hungry, make sure you're eating regularly! Appetite is a bad indicator of nutritional needs in a race.

I'd run a non-race tire. Fixing flats in this suuuucks and there's a lot of **** on the roads here. Bring an extra tube, patch kit, and two cO2's. Maybe a frame pump if you like (underused!)

pace yourself!

I don't know where the half way point is, but I try to start hammering at Oracle/Ina as you turn right on to Oracle. You'll enter rollers in the next couple of miles and these can really slow you down if you're tired.

Stay with a group. Riding a lone in the El Tour makes things hellish. If you're tired and having trouble stay on, stop thinking about it and stay on the group.

Be safe. It's a very very sketchy event. I can't stress how many novice riders there are out there. Maybe it's not fair to call them novice, as all levels of skill crash, but you take my point.

Good luck!

brianallan

p.s. it's actually 112 miles according to my computer : )

azwhelan

It's only sketchy if you treat the event like a race, which it isn't. The lead groups do tend to see crashes because of the people without expeirence riding in a fast group. Don't be scared off and if your goal is to stay with the lead groups take an inventory of the riders around you, the hairy ones are pretty easy to spot.

A tip, if you have an old pair of cleats sitting around put them on because the crossings can tear them up pretty good.